On the surface, this work might appear closer to a challenging scholarly quiz than a new popular music album by a musician who just had a previous hit was a collaboration with an international pop icon. Split across 4 distinct parts and performed in thirteen tongues, it is a head-spinning classical-tinged work exploring female mystery, religious transcendence, and bodily change, frequently by way of the prism of different female saints. The dissolution of a romance—a topic handled with grounded honesty on another major 2025 album—is shot upwards here, carried by the constant sound of a major orchestra and input from an award-winning songwriter within an extensive list of contributors. The pure audacity alone renders the efforts of other artists appear quite laughable.
Rising Above Scholarly Pretense
The fact that this album succeeds in avoid overly intellectual posturing feels almost a miracle, and sole credit belonging to Rosalía. Although it's not her first album to fuse historical sounds with the present, its stakes feel much higher on Lux, and the tightrope walk more pronounced. The element that truly raises this fourth album, outside of its complex melodies, dense arrangements, and engrained drama, is a core sense of joy. Similar to the iconic Björk during her peak, you find a wondrous sense to Rosalía's voice that pulls you into its tornado. Even when she is tearing your heart apart, you still desire to be right there for the journey.
A Prime Moment of Joy
This exuberant energy comes forth brightly on a stirring Italian ballad inspired by Saint Clare. It luxuriates in a string-drenched whirlpool for several minutes. Then, all the music falls away, to reveal we hear a spontaneous giggle followed by a comment before a comically exaggerated orchestral surge thuds in like cartoonish force. The song then segues into the frenetic single driven by galloping orchestration, an imposing choir, and a cameo role from none other than herself.
"The charm of this album lies in you never quite know—nor wish to predict—where you will go next."
Nearly each track concludes at a completely distinct place from how it started. A track examines the transient trappings of celebrity over a delicate symphony only to disintegrating in electronic chaos. Another, a song that recalls the artist's previous trap-infused work begins out dark and brooding, with menacing vocals, until fluttering traditional rhythms and an angelic chorus enter to smooth the song's rough corners.
The Bridge Between Experiment and Accessibility
Another crucial achievement of Lux is navigating the line of radical innovation and broad accessibility. It is no coincidence that it has achieved the artist's first work to break into the Top 5 of major charts: its heart contains a collection of utterly undeniable pop songs. One track performed entirely in English swells on a chorus that feels to collect more and more nagging melodies as it spirals upward. This trick is repeated by a different expansive track that grows and constricts, intertwining multiple melodies like an intricate weave.
- A waltz-like song seduces with its jaunty, Disney-adjacent flair and a chant-along hook.
- Lyrically, it shares the pop culture impact of contemporary breakup songs, lambasting an ex- partner described as an "emotional bully".
- Across these tracks, the singing carry a sharp edge, akin to a storybook character hiding a blade: "Gold medal in being a motherfucker / You've the podium of letdown."
A Maximalist Feast for the Ears
This album represents pop on a maximalist scale, an ambitious reach for capital-A Art amid of looming AI-generated blankness. It eschews solipsism for glorious elevation, crafting a dramatic spectacle that skillfully controls its own built-in excess. This is an abundant well of buried gems that takes patience to fully mine but doesn't feels like a chore. While other major pop albums of the year seemed like a meager scraps, Lux is a sumptuous banquet where the guests at the table, some intoxicated on sacred drink, flutter from discussions about historical saints, the profound feeling of soul-shattering grief, and shared stories about useless partners. In essence, it's a contemporary musical from music's truly restlessly inventive practitioner.
